“Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time”Parts 1-3” (2020): Part 1 – “Midnight Madness”; Part 2 – “Horror & Sci-Fi”; Part 3 – “Comedy & Camp” / Z-View
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time, Parts 1 – 3 (2020)
Director: Danny Wolf
Writers: Paul Fishbein, Irv Slifkin, Danny Wolf
Stars: Kevin Pollak, John Waters, Illeana Douglas, Joe Dante, Jeff Goldblum, Michael McKean, Bruce Campbell, Jeff Bridges, Rob Reiner, Gina Gershon, Fran Drescher, John Turturro, Pam Grier, Amy Heckerling, Roger Corman, Joe Morton, Ed Neil, John Sayles, Rob Zombie, John Cleese, Kevin Smith and Sean Young.
Tagline: None.
The Plot…
Joe Dante, Illeana Douglas, John Waters and Kevin Pollack talk about the all-time best cult movies in a three part series. Clips from interviews with those who starred in the films are included.
- Episode 1: Midnight Madness.
Films covered include: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pink Flamingos, The Big Lebowski, Eraserhead, The Warriors, Point Break, and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
- Episode 2: Horror and Sci-Fi
Films covered include: Horror – Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Evil Dead, The Devil’s Rejects, Re-Animator, The Human Centipede, Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, Death Race 2000, The Brother from Another Planet, Liquid Sky and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
- Episode 3: Comedy and Camp
Films covered include: Comedy – Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Office Space, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Napoleon Dynamite, Clerks, Kingpin and Super Troopers. Camp – The Room, Showgirls, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, Female Trouble, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Phantom of the Paradise.
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
Episode 1 brought back great memories of midnight showings that were popular in the 70s and 80s. Films that never found an audience, got a second chance with these late night showings. Fans of the films made them hits.
Episode 2 looks at films that often didn’t do great on their initial release due to bad or little marketing, but found a hard core audience over time. This was my favorite episode — although I’ll never understand how (and hope to never see) The Human Centipede was greenlit.
Episode 3 explores cult comedies and camp films — movies so bad that they are “good”. While I don’t think a movie can be so bad it becomes good, Ed Wood’s films are hard to not keep watching once you start. It’s hard to believe that they’re not comedies and even better to watch with the right crowd.
Time Warp: The Best Cult Films of All-Time, Parts 1 – 3 (2020) rates 4 of 5 stars.